Mood effects on attitude judgements: the independent effects of mood before and after message elaboration

Die vorliegende Studie untersucht die voneinander unabhängigen Auswirkungen der erzeugten Stimmung auf die Aufnahme einer überzeugenden Mitteilung und auf das Treffen von Entscheidungen. Im ersten Experiment wurde eine positive bzw. negative Stimmung zum einen vor der Aufnahme einer anderen Meinung, zum anderen vor dem Treffen einer Entscheidung erzeugt. Wurde die Stimmung vor der Aufnahme der Mitteilung erzeugt, waren Personen in negativer Stimmung eher von starken Argumenten zu überzeugen. Personen in guter Stimmung ließen sich gleichermaßen von starken als auch von schwachen Argumenten überzeugen. Im zweiten Experiment wurde die Auswirkung der Stimmung nach der Aufnahme einer Mitteilung untersucht. Die Personen wurden mit einer gegensätzlichen Meinung konfrontiert und aufgefordert, entweder eine globale oder eine detaillierte Bewertung vorzunehmen. Anschließend wurde eine positive, negative oder neutrale Stimmung erzeugt. Personen mit guter Stimmung bevorzugten meist die globale Bewertung. (psz

Histological Effect of Basic Fibroblast Growth Factor on Chronic Vocal Fold Scarring in a Rat Model

Objectives Vocal fold scarring is one of the most challenging laryngeal disorders to treat and there are currently no consistently effective treatments available. Our previous studies have shown the therapeutic potential of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) for vocal fold scarring. However, the histological effects of bFGF on scarred vocal fold have not been elucidated. The aim of this study was to examine the histological effects of bFGF on chronic vocal fold scarring. Methods Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into phosphate buffered saline (sham) and bFGF groups. Unilateral vocal fold stripping was performed and the drug was injected into the scarred vocal fold for each group 2 months postoperatively. Injections were performed weekly for 4 weeks. Two months after the last injection, larynges were harvested and histologically analyzed. Results A significant increase of hyaluronic acid was observed in the vocal fold of the bFGF group compared with that of the sham group. However, there was no remarkable change in collagen expression nor in vocal fold contraction. Conclusion Significant increase of hyaluronic acid by local bFGF injection was thought to contribute to the therapeutic effects on chronic vocal fold scarring

Souvenir Purchase Motivations and Product Attribute Preferences among Arts and Design Students amidst Covid-19

Despite the onslaught of COVID-19, people still travel and tourism can only thrive further upon its end. Souvenir shopping has long been integral to the tourism business and one’s travel experience. This quantitative non-experimental descriptive correlational study aimed to determine the relationship between souvenir purchase motivations and product attribute preferences among the randomly selected 50 Grade 12 Arts and Design students in the University of San Carlos South Campus for the school year 2021-2022. Two standardized and reliable Likert-type survey tools were used to collect data. Results revealed that students acquire souvenirs for a variety of reasons before making their decision. Students also valued the portability, aesthetic value, and authenticity of an item when looking for a souvenir. Researchers found out that there is a high positive correlation between souvenir purchase motivations and product attribute preferences and the relationship between the two variables is found to be significant, r (48) = 0.547, p < 0.05. This means that students who go on trips have distinct motivations and it affects their decision-making towards purchasing souvenir items. This study recommends that the variables be tested in more settings post-pandemic, as travel restrictions ease worldwide

The evolving SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Africa: Insights from rapidly expanding genomic surveillance

INTRODUCTION Investment in Africa over the past year with regard to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) sequencing has led to a massive increase in the number of sequences, which, to date, exceeds 100,000 sequences generated to track the pandemic on the continent. These sequences have profoundly affected how public health officials in Africa have navigated the COVID-19 pandemic. RATIONALE We demonstrate how the first 100,000 SARS-CoV-2 sequences from Africa have helped monitor the epidemic on the continent, how genomic surveillance expanded over the course of the pandemic, and how we adapted our sequencing methods to deal with an evolving virus. Finally, we also examine how viral lineages have spread across the continent in a phylogeographic framework to gain insights into the underlying temporal and spatial transmission dynamics for several variants of concern (VOCs). RESULTS Our results indicate that the number of countries in Africa that can sequence the virus within their own borders is growing and that this is coupled with a shorter turnaround time from the time of sampling to sequence submission. Ongoing evolution necessitated the continual updating of primer sets, and, as a result, eight primer sets were designed in tandem with viral evolution and used to ensure effective sequencing of the virus. The pandemic unfolded through multiple waves of infection that were each driven by distinct genetic lineages, with B.1-like ancestral strains associated with the first pandemic wave of infections in 2020. Successive waves on the continent were fueled by different VOCs, with Alpha and Beta cocirculating in distinct spatial patterns during the second wave and Delta and Omicron affecting the whole continent during the third and fourth waves, respectively. Phylogeographic reconstruction points toward distinct differences in viral importation and exportation patterns associated with the Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron variants and subvariants, when considering both Africa versus the rest of the world and viral dissemination within the continent. Our epidemiological and phylogenetic inferences therefore underscore the heterogeneous nature of the pandemic on the continent and highlight key insights and challenges, for instance, recognizing the limitations of low testing proportions. We also highlight the early warning capacity that genomic surveillance in Africa has had for the rest of the world with the detection of new lineages and variants, the most recent being the characterization of various Omicron subvariants. CONCLUSION Sustained investment for diagnostics and genomic surveillance in Africa is needed as the virus continues to evolve. This is important not only to help combat SARS-CoV-2 on the continent but also because it can be used as a platform to help address the many emerging and reemerging infectious disease threats in Africa. In particular, capacity building for local sequencing within countries or within the continent should be prioritized because this is generally associated with shorter turnaround times, providing the most benefit to local public health authorities tasked with pandemic response and mitigation and allowing for the fastest reaction to localized outbreaks. These investments are crucial for pandemic preparedness and response and will serve the health of the continent well into the 21st century

Multiple Sound Sources of the Vocal Tract.

This paper will discuss multiple sound sources of the vocal tract, focusing specifically on one type of multiple sound source, that of (imitated Tibetan) chant. First I will present a physiological outline of multiple sound sources, in order to better understand chant as just one of the many types of multiple sound sources that composers and performers might utilize. The main body of the paper will then describe a collaborative study between Drs. Khidr, Bless and the author, which is designed to quantify the physiologic and acoustic parameters of chant. By doing so, this paper will attempt to merge current musical compositional imperatives with current scientific rigor and rationale. Ultimately, this cross-disciplinary work will impact both voice science and musical expression as much more needs to be learned regarding the limits of the voice. Compositionally, the value for introducing scientific rigor into the world of new music has been well understood by those associated with electronic and computer music, acoustic modeling and design, or for composers exploring the limits of expression associated with the extensions of performance technique. However, the voice has been treated much with the same musical aesthetic and principles of phonation that existed during the 18th and 19th centuries. So that while instruments have incorporated multiphonics, complex (noise-based) frequency signals, and transient gestures, the voice has remained, for the most part, the carrier of simple melodic formuli. Therefore, this paper will suggest that by knowing the limits of the voice and what is pedagogically safe, contemporary performance/compositional practices will begin to explore and expand upon the current trends of positing simple solutions when approaching the voice

Deformation Analysis of the Vibrational Patterns of the Vocal Folds

Videostroboscopy is an examination which yields a permanent record of the moving vocal folds. Thus, it allows the diagnosis of abnormalities which contribute to voice disorders. In this paper, in order to find and quantify the deformation of the vocal folds in videostroboscopic recordings, an active contours (snakes) based approach is used to delineate the vocal folds in each frame of the videostroboscopic image sequence. After this delineation, a new elastic registration algorithm is used to register the vocal fold contours between adjacent frames of the video sequence. This algorithm is based on the regularization principle and is very effective for our application. A least-squares approach is used to fit an affine model to the displacement vectors found by elastic registration. The parameters of this model, rotation, translation, and deformation along two principle axes, quantify the deformation and allow the succinct characterization of the videostroboscopic recordings based on the..